Small Scale Military Headquarters

I m Just Impressed about the PRICES complain .The prices is to High .But I m happy because they still live in this economic TIMES .


BBI Collectible
There will be a new online store specially for Elite Force products. Opening soon.
Like · · Share · December 19, 2011 at 8:31pm ·
13 people like this




Blake Melancon Hopefully prices won't be astronomical. I own the Kiowa, Little Bird, Zero, Corsair, Hellcat and Hornet. I bought those at REASONABLE prices whether through Toys R Us or etailers. The jacking up of prices based off of the JSI F-14 is concerning. Suddenly the F-16 went from $79 to $169. That's a huge pile of bullsh*t BBi. You guys are a MUCH bigger company than 21C or JSI and were pumping out a repaint of an existing mold for twice the price based off of people wanting something new in 1/18. I'm totally out of this scale if this is what you think you can charge "colllectors" in 1/18.
December 22, 2011 at 8:52pm · Like · 2

Blake Melancon Add the OD green Blackhawk to my list also. So that's seven aircraft I own made by y'all
December 22, 2011 at 8:59pm · Like · 1

Blake Melancon Make it eight aircraft with "Killer" P-51D. Click on my profile photos to confirm it under "Hobbies"
December 22, 2011 at 9:16pm · Like · 1

BBI Collectible Only new items will be available on the new online shop. Though not too many, but hope it is only a start.
December 22, 2011 at 10:02pm · Like

Blake Melancon I'm sure you and everybody at BBi follows Small Scale Military HQ and The Fighting 1/18. To put it into perspective, I bought ONE 1/18 toy/collective from y'all, that's what started my interest back in 2005. Look, the price hike with the Falcon and the BlackHawk is an absolute slap in the face to those that have been faithfully buying from Bbi for the last decade. Your company needs to get off the ebay "Let's see what we can charge" bandwagon and price your products reasonably. I'm one collector, but I belong to a community that is pretty upset with your recent pricing.
December 22, 2011 at 10:08pm · Like · 3

Ian Walker I'm "impressed" with the way BBI will address only those who post high praise, but ignore those of us with valid concerns about the direction their pricing is headed. Pricing which will prevent all but the most hard-line collectors from obtaining their product. How can you pump out slight retools and repaints for such prices and think it's going to be good for business?
December 23, 2011 at 10:41pm · Like · 2

BBI Collectible We hear all your comments on price. We can't tell you the unbelievable raise on production cost. Anyway we will see what we can do in the future to let you happier and we can survive. Happy New Year to all.
December 29, 2011 at 11:57pm · Like

Ian Walker This is like a 300% raise in production cost, and I find that pretty hard to believe. Do you mean to tell us that the cost of the plastic, paint, cardboard, and electricity used in the process today vs. 2005 warrants a 300% price hike? I call bullsh*t. Seems to me your "raise in production cost" is pretty on par with the prices people are selling prior BBI releases for on ebay. Do you really expect us to believe that line? Just be honest and admit you saw how much collectors were paying on the secondary market and you decided to get back into that game to cash in knowing the hard line collectors would pay unreasonable prices as long as they were just a -little- better than what they were being auctioned for.
December 30, 2011 at 7:59am · Like

Generoso Carrera Jacinto III Hey guys, let's put this in some perspective. In 2005, there were more factories putting out these items and other collectibles. Now, a number of them have shut down. Oil prices have changed from $57/barrel to $90/barrel which includes inflation. It would be a little cheaper if they kept the molds from 2005, but no guarantee they did. Because of potential "redevelopment", they had to markup the product. If the first batches sell well, they can afford to use market study to drop the price. If they do like they said above, good. If not, buy the smaller inaccurate skystriker from hasblow.
December 30, 2011 at 2:09pm · Like

Generoso Carrera Jacinto III Not just BBI, but companies like hot toys (Asian) and sideshow collectibles (American) have increased costs as time progressed. Maybe some advancements warrant them, but also consider where can you buy BBI at the moment... Walmart or specialty stores?

Interesting. BBI is certainly sliding away from the question, but at the same time the collectors are hounding them to the point of being unbearable. I don't like BBI's raise in prices, but that complaining is exactly what drives companys away from posting about their items. It happened here on this board.

It works both ways, I guess...

Again on the prices, BBI is going to charge more because they are making fewer products, even with repaints, packaging them differently, and not selling them at every store, TRU and Target, like they once were. (We saw this with JSI, for example, which sold 21c toolings for a greater price simply because they were making fewer of them). And times are different than they were in 2005. The weak economy, oil shortage, higher product costs, etc are a reality and that affects multiple sectors of the economy, including the price of toys. Heck, even Star Wars and GI Joe items are getting expensive, and thousands more of those are made than BBI F-16s and Blackhawks.

Just my thoughts... On one hand, I hate whining from online posters. It gets excessive and annoying and drives away retailers and manufacturers. I also don't like companies charging more for their products, but I see it as a reality of our hobby. If you don't like it, don't collect it.

Seriously, these posters expect a 1/18 F-16 for $50.

Considering what Wolfpack was going for on Ebay, I was happy with the $150 price tag.

All diecast models, not just 1/18, have gone up quite a bit in price over the last 3-4 years.

If you can't, or don't want to spend $150 for a huge, and well done F-16, then perhaps you should not be collecting 1/18. It really amazes me at how people complain about prices, and want these models for virtually nothing.

If you don't like the price, don't buy it. Simple.

It's a hobby.

Well said Snake, I agree.

If they dont want to pay, then don't play. I just hope BBi and others don't think that most collectors
are like these whiners and decide to stop 1:18 before it even gets started again.

Where's my facepalm.jpg????

You guys REALLY? Maybe I figured I'd take one for the team and post about ridiculous price hikes. I'm the one who did the loudest whining in the facebook article.

I won't sit back and stew on this forum and just say "oh well, go ahead and charge more BBI, your aircraft are like a crack addiction. Please screw me harder, I just HAVE TO HAVE another one of your airplane collectables. PLEASE give us anything, I love you guys!!!"

I'll vote with my wallet. Sure I can afford their models easily, it doesn't mean I have to buy ANY of them.


NWarty (aka Blake the whiner)

NWarty, If you look at the price of gas a decade ago, and the price of milk a decade ago. You'll see they went up more than these 1:18 birds did (percentage wise). But I dont see anyone complaining (at least not on the news) about the price of gas and milk now days. Seems to be the norm (unfortunately). It is inflation, the devaluation of the dollar. Percentage wise, the f-16 was a steal at todays inflation rate complered to when it first came out.
BBi and others arent price gouging. nobody will buy if it seems unreasonable. Now for milk and gas, thats another story.

Chief,
It's BBI, not 21c or Admiral. A BIG company.

In 2008ish, I bought the BBI Blackhawk at Target for $45. Three years later, they rehash the same mold, with a couple of bits added on, at a 400% price increase.

Like I said, I think inflation has a bit to do with it, but BBI, seeing that ebay prices were going through the roof over the last two years of a 1/18 drought, decided that customers would indeed pay 400% more for their products. Also aligning with what JSI set the price bar at with the SpotCat.

I have no desire to buy a Falcon, hopefully Merit keeps the SBD "reasonable".

snake wrote:Seriously, these posters expect a 1/18 F-16 for $50.

I lol'd at that!

NWarty wrote:Where's my facepalm.jpg????

You guys REALLY? Maybe I figured I'd take one for the team and post about ridiculous price hikes. I'm the one who did the loudest whining in the facebook article.

I won't sit back and stew on this forum and just say "oh well, go ahead and charge more BBI, your aircraft are like a crack addiction. Please screw me harder, I just HAVE TO HAVE another one of your airplane collectables. PLEASE give us anything, I love you guys!!!"

I'll vote with my wallet. Sure I can afford their models easily, it doesn't mean I have to buy ANY of them.


NWarty (aka Blake the whiner)

everyone gotta protest about something. it seems like it's the most rad thing to do, these days.